Construction of the $7.5 billion 200,800-barrel-per-day Nghi Son oil refinery, Vietnam's second, will start in the last quarter of this year after a half-year delay, state oil and gas group Petrovietnam said on Tuesday.

Vietnam's natural gas output this year is expected to fall 5.7 percent from 2010 to 8.86 billion cubic meters, the Hanoi-based group said in a statement.

Last year it pumped 9.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Crude oil output for 2011 would reach a previous projection of 15 million tons, or 301,200 bpd, down 0.07 percent from 2010, said the statement reviewing oil and gas production in the first nine months and plans for the last quarter.

Construction of Nghi Son refinery, owned by Petrovietnam, Kuwait Petroleum International, Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co and Mitsui Chemicals , has been delayed since the first quarter due to land clearance and preparation procedures, state media reported.

Vietnam has picked a consortium including French oil services firm Technip , Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp and Spain's oil engineer Tecnicas Reunidas to build Nghi Son plant in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, 215 km (134 miles) south of Hanoi.

Kuwait Petroleum International will receive funding from the International Finance Corporation to build and develop the Nghi Son oil refinery, its chairman was reported on Sept. 30 as saying.

The refinery is designed to process Kuwaiti crude oil.

Dung Quat refinery, built in the country's central coast to process 130,500 bpd of crude oil, is now Vietnam's sole operating facility.

Vietnam has planned for five other oil refineries, including Nghi Son.